T-60: Qualified to serve

Being born into a rich and powerful family of nobles certainly has its privileges. In our text today, young men are being selected from among the ranks of the royalty and nobility that they may serve the conquering king. Let’s examine this passage to discover in what manner they were qualified to serve…

Daniel 1:3-4 (NIV)
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.b [1]

We’ve already given treatment to V3 so today the focus is on V4 and in that we see exactly what qualities the king of Babylonia desired in his personal attendants. The king specified ‘young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve…’ Though all citizens, servants and slaves of Babylonia served the king, such young men were to be brought forward, set apart and prepared for special service.

In that process, I observe that according to their lineage such young men have been identified as potential candidates for special service. Their lineage has pre-qualified them but lineage alone is not enough. To serve the earthly king of Babylonia, they must also possess certain characteristics of body (without physical defect; handsome) and mind (aptitude for learning, well informed, quick to understand) and of character (qualified to serve). Those that meet these qualifications are set apart from all the rest and are to receive instruction in the ways of the ruling kingdom.

I note that Ashpenaz was tasked not only with the selection process but also with the teaching process. Thus, he had ample opportunity to choose those boys that he thought would be most receptive to his tutelage. In this we can assume that he would choose carefully so as to be successful in the eyes of the king.

Nevertheless, the king of Babylonia had certain qualities that he desired in his servants and to those with the qualities, special consideration was to be given.

I speak now of us; our bondage, our qualifications and our servitude to the King.

Each of us has known and may yet recall our days of bondage to a life of sin. While in that life we were without hope, without future, without purpose and utterly lost. As such, we were like the ancestors of the young men found in our text today. Those ancestors were freed from their captivity by amazing acts of God that proved his existence and exhibited his power in the eyes of believer and non-believer alike. We were freed from our captivity by an amazing act of God that proved his existence, exhibited his power and revealed the magnitude of his love for believers and non-believers alike.

Those newly freed people then went forth into the wilderness, destined for the Promised Land and repeatedly put themselves back into bondage to sin. Some reading this message today have done exactly the same thing by accepting their freedom and then purposefully putting the shackles back on so that they may live a life of sin. For the people of Israel, their sinfulness resulted in their being turned over as slaves to the Babylonians. For the modern-day Christian, there are equivalents to the Babylonians that are waiting to ensnare and enslave.

In both groups (the ancient Israelites and the modern Christians) there are remnants of people who having slipped the bonds of sin have entered into a life of service to the King; not as slaves but as bond-servants. And in that decision is found the quality to serve God. The king of Babylonia was looking for young men, good looking and smart. The God of heaven is looking for humble people who are willing and who are committed.

Like the young men in Babylon, those who meet the qualification are to be set apart and prepared for service and then ultimately they are to serve the king.

My questions to you today are;
· Have you put back on the shackles of sin or have you become a bond-servant to Christ?
· Are you humble before God and willing to serve? Are you committed to service in the face of adversity and opposition?
· Are you set apart from the rest of the world; saving yourself for His purposes or are you immersed in the world, giving yourself to all manner of idols?
· Are you being prepared for service or has your term already begun?

By our faith and adoption into the family of God our lineage has been secured. By our lineage we are pre-qualified to serve the King. By God’s will and our willingness we are set apart for service to the King. By the Holy Spirit we are taught the language and literature of Christianity as ongoing preparation for our service. We need only to humbly submit ourselves to Him in service and in love.

שָׁלֹם

Carl

b Or Chaldeans

[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.